in accordance with the latest CIBSE (Chartered Institution of Building Engineers) ‘TM65 Embodied Carbon in Building Services: A Calculation Methodology (2021)’ digital tool requirements. This milestone allows Diffusion to provide Mid-Level report figures for all of its fan coil units, including its CIBSE award-winning New Highline 235 Modular Fan Coil Range. Diffusion is now working towards the completion of more comprehensive and independently verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for all its fan coil units.
TM65 is an internationally applicable methodology for the calculation of embodied carbon in building services engineering. With the methodology embodied carbon is understood as the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the manufacture of a product, its installation, maintenance, repair, replacement, and end of life. It covers the whole life cycle, excluding operational aspects and the potential recovery, reuse, or recycling of materials.
Diffusion is seeing an increase in the number of projects requiring life cycle assessments to ensure the buildings are sustainable through all stages of design. This increases the demand for manufacturers to provide details of their products’ embodied carbon. There are several ways for a manufacturer to calculate the embodied carbon of its products. A Type II environmental declaration (self-certified), can be achieved by using a manufacturer’s software or process, including CIBSE’s TM65 Embodied Carbon in Building Services: A Calculation Methodology (2021). Alternatively, manufacturers can achieve a Type III environmental declaration (quantified and independently verified environmental information over the life cycle of goods and services, which has a financial cost), such as EPDs and PEPs. Diffusion is striving towards attaining Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to provide its customers total peace of mind that Diffusion’s embodied carbon data has been third-party verified.
“It is not only important to design a fan coil with a low embodied carbon, it is also vital to be able to measure this and prove this with data, to ensure specifiers of low carbon buildings have the whole picture and the assurance they need. At Diffusion we design our fan coils to have a low embodied carbon footprint and we have used the CIBSE TM65 data collection methodology to collect accurate and detailed embodied carbon information across our entire product portfolio. Working from a component level, this methodology ensures data is comprehensive, and up-to-date. Diffusion is now working towards completion of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) on all its fan coils,” says Alexis Roberts, Brand Manager at Diffusion.
The embodied carbon associated with building services design can be significant over a building's lifetime, mainly due to the materials used, but also due to high replacement rates as buildings change their usage. For commercial property owners modular fan coil design is particularly important to buildings undergoing a change of use. Modular fan coil units can be reconfigured on-site to align with a building’s new purpose resulting in substantial sustainability benefits. The modular design avoids the need to buy entirely new fan coil units and eliminates the need to discard existing ones, this approach significantly minimises capital cost, on-site disruption and waste. Instead, the modular design enables fan coils to be reused, reducing a building’s overall embodied energy.
Diffusion’s New Modular Highline 235 Fan Coil Range is therefore ideal for specifiers of low and zero-carbon buildings. Winning the ‘Product or Innovation of the Year – Thermal Comfort’ category of the CIBSE Building Performance Awards 2024, this new range has been developed to create the perfect indoor environment, offering modular design – an industry first. With compact dimensions and advanced components that deliver low sound levels, reduced energy consumption, and optimal performance the Highline 235 also has significant sustainability benefits. Diffusion’s modularisation of its fan coil product impressed the judges at the CIBSE Awards, who said it was ‘a practical, well thought through design’ that delivered on customer feedback. The judges added that with thorough research and testing, Diffusion has developed a product that considers whole-life costing through the use of TM65 and local sourcing to reduce transport miles.
The new Modular Highline 235 fan coil range comprises eight models, including 13 fan combinations. Boasting exceedingly low sound levels, the Highline 235 delivers noise ratings as low as NR25. This ensures its suitability for a wide variety of buildings, particularly residential applications and hotels where quiet operation is critical. All products are rigorously tested in Diffusion’s own test laboratory and then independently tested by SRL Technical Services Ltd (also known as the Sound Research Laboratory), to ensure customers’ peace of mind. Meanwhile, the range’s high-efficiency EC motor and fan assemblies provide improved Specific Fan Powers (SFP) as low as 0.14 W/l/s reducing overall building energy consumption, another important consideration for low and zero-carbon buildings.
Diffusion is a British manufacturer, they have been manufacturing heating and cooling equipment in the UK for over 60 years, during which time it has established an enviable reputation for the quality of product, the bespoke design capability, and excellent, personal service. Its competitively priced product portfolio comprises a wide range of fan coil units. Diffusion’s main objective is to design and manufacture high-quality solutions to meet clients’ needs, designing and manufacturing energy-efficient HEVAC equipment that can accommodate specific requirements in the most cost-effective way, where the standard is never compromised.
The Diffusion team has in excess of 200 years of combined industry knowledge through working closely with customers for over 60 years. This deep understanding of the project requirements has enabled Diffusion to design and manufacture the most advanced, energy efficient products that comply with all relevant Building Regulations. Diffusion specialises in fan coil design and manufacture and is trusted by countless businesses across the construction supply chain. Diffusion fan coils are in countless landmark buildings including The Shard and The Walkie-Talkie building. Diffusion is a UK manufacturer and continuously searches for new and innovative ways to lower its carbon emissions.
For more information on Diffusion, please visit the Diffusion website below.
